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The Nations, Israel and the Church in Prophecy
This book is the single volume of the combined books The Nations in Prophecy, Israel in Prophecy and The Church in Prophecy. It outlines the broad scope of human history and its relationship to prophecy, from creation to the eternal state, combining prophecies concerning the nations, Israel, and the Church. This approach is designed to give the reader a broad interpretation of the entire prophetic word, avoiding the confusion that often exists when mingling the three prophetic strains. Publication in this form is designed to provide the reader with an understandable statement of what the Bible teaches about the future. ever written. It reveals the omnipotent God unfolding his purpose for the nations in measured movements designed to demonstrate his own sovereignty, wisdom and power. Though in the original creation man was made in the image and likeness of God, the author argues that during the fall the image became marred. Nevertheless man was destined to become the channel of divine revelation. The history of the human race as recorded in Scripture was designed to demonstrate both the inadequacy of the creature and the sufficiency of the omnipotent Creator. Earth was to be the stage and man the actor. The author argues that in the 20th century, history seems to be working towards this destiny. capstone to the previous discussion of prophecy relating to the nations and to Israel. Other books by this author include The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation, The Holy Spirit, The Millennial Kingdom and The Rapture Epistles.
184 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1988
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May 2, 2023
A REPUBLISHING OF THREE OF WALVOORD’S EARLIER BOOKS
John Walvoord (1910-2002) was a Christian theologian, and the president of Dallas Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1986. He wrote in the Preface to this 1988 republication of these three books, “the interpretation of prophecy is one of the most challenging areas of biblical study… From the careful study of the prophetic Scriptures three main subjects emerge: (1) what the Bible teaches about the nations, (2) what the Bible teaches about Israel, and (3) what the Bible teaches about the church… When biblical prophecies are classified under this threefold approach… the pattern for the future becomes clear. Combining in own volume prophecies concerning the nations, Israel, and the church gives the reader a broad interpretation of the entire prophetic Word… Publication in this form will provide the reader with an understandable statement of what the Bible teaches about the future.” (Pg. xi)
In the 1967 book ‘The Nations in Prophecy’ he asserts, “The relationship of the Gentiles to Israel is always that of a supporting role… in [God’s] dealings with the nations… this is always subordinated to His purpose for Israel and the fulfillment of the spiritual promises to all who would trust in the God of Israel… Prophecy concerning the Gentiles, accordingly, although more expansive in its character and worldwide in its significance, is always presented in Scripture in relation to God’s purposes for Israel. World history which is not related to this is usually omitted in Scripture… From the standpoint of God’s divine election, Israel is the key, and through Israel God was to fulfill His purpose whether redemptive, political, or eschatological.” (Pg. 52)
He states, “The little horn of [Daniel’ 8:9 … concerns Antiochus Epiphanes … Many consider the desecration of the Jewish temple by Antiochus Epiphanes a foreshadowing of a still future desecration that will be fulfilled in the time of the great tribulation (cp. Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-22). The references … seem in some respects to go beyond Antiochus Epiphanes... If so, this is another instance of dual fulfillment of prophecy, the partial fulfillment foreshadowing the ultimate fulfillment.” (Pg. 80-81)
He points out that the ‘Prophesied End of Rome [was] Not Fulfilled… the final state of the empire described in Daniel 2:452-45 has never been fulfilled… the description of the beast as having ten horns and the … emergence of a little horn… has never been fulfilled. It is also evident that there has been no literal fulfillment of the fifth kingdom which was to succeed the fourth… Nothing should be clearer … that there has been no fulfillment of this last stage of the Roman Empire.” (Pg. 84-85) He adds, “Inasmuch as the first portion of the prophecy concerning the Roman Empire was so graphically fulfilled in history… it is most reasonable to conclude that the final stage of the Roman Empire will also have its precise fulfillment.” (Pg. 87)
He also states, “There has never ben a war with Israel which fulfills the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 and 39. If one believes that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is infallible and must be fulfilled, the only logical deduction is that this … is still due a future fulfillment.” (Pg. 105)
He acknowledges, “There are some … problems in the Ezekiel [38-39] passage which merit study. Reference is made to bows and arrows, to shields and chariots, and to swords. These, of course, are antiquated weapons … why should the use armor, spears, bows and arrow? This certainly poses a problem. There have been two or more answers given. One of them is … that Ezekiel is using language with which he was familiar… to anticipate modern weapons… Such an interpretation, too, has problems. We are told … that they used the wooden shafts of the spears and the bow and arrows for kindling wood… We are not in a position today to settle this problem with any finality. A second solution is that the battle is preceded by a disarmament agreement between nations. If this were the case, it would be necessary to resort to primitive weapons…” (Pg. 115-116)
He points out, “No specific mention of the United States or North America or South American can be found in the Bible. None of the rather obscure references to distant lands can be taken specifically as a reference to the United States…” (Pg. 172)
In the second book (1962), ‘Israel in Prophecy,’ he argues, “The … amillennial interpretation of the Abrahamic promises … follow[s] the method of spiritualizing them… Another device… follows the argument that the promises are conditional… Israel was actually promised the land and other blessings, but it is charged that Israel failed to meet the conditions…It is true that, in some cases in the Bible, promises are given in a conditional way… However, it is not true that in Scripture obedience is always the condition of blessing…. Many of God’s blessings fall upon those who are the least worthy of them… It certainly is not true that God’s promises or that prophecy as a whole is conditioned upon human action… The major premise… that obedience is always the conditions of blessing, is a fallacy.” (Pg. 40-41)
He states, “The New Testament … notes that natural Israel---that is, unsaved Israel---are not in the church. There is then no teaching that the nation of Israel as such becomes the church as such. Instead the nation of Israel is promised a future, and though this future is largely fulfilled by spiritual Israel, the existence of these promises as distinct from God’s program for the church maintains the difference between the two terms.” (Pg. 57)
He asserts, “the land, though subject to delay and Israel’s temporary dispossession, is promised unconditionally to the seed of Abraham… it is clear that the promises are geographic and that the boundaries announced in Genesis 15 will have specific application when Israel is finally installed in their land in the millennial period.” (Pg. 71-72)
In the third book, ‘The Church in Prophecy’ (1964), he states, “The concept of apostasy or departure from the faith … can be traced throughout Scripture beginning in the Garden of Eden… The history of the church … is also a sad record of departure from God… The first casualty was a departure from .. the doctrine of the premillennial coming of Christ and the establishment of His millennial kingdom… The next important casualty … was the departure from grace beginning with Augustine… the enlightenment freed men’s minds and wills to believe and do as they pleased… Soon higher criticism began to rear its ugly head, and rationalism demanded that Christian doctrines be subjected to the bar of reason…. The twentieth century … also signaled the rise of new and confusing heresies. Multiplied cults and new forms of religion arose with various degrees of allegiance to Christianity… of which the most … important is neo-orthodoxy. The growth and character of apostasy in the world today … seem to be a clear parallel to what one might have a right to expect in the days immediately preceding the rapture.” (Pg. 51-53)
He says, “Most conservative scholarship agrees that the early church fathers were in error in their conclusion that they were already in the great tribulation… In contrast to the early fathers, however, modern post-tribulationists do not believe in imminency in the same sense as did the early church… while affirming post-tribulationism as such, [they] deny imminency in the sense of an any-moment return, and hold a decidedly different point of view from the early fathers.” (Pg. 114)
This book will appeal to Dispensationalist Evangelicals studying prophecy.
John Walvoord (1910-2002) was a Christian theologian, and the president of Dallas Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1986. He wrote in the Preface to this 1988 republication of these three books, “the interpretation of prophecy is one of the most challenging areas of biblical study… From the careful study of the prophetic Scriptures three main subjects emerge: (1) what the Bible teaches about the nations, (2) what the Bible teaches about Israel, and (3) what the Bible teaches about the church… When biblical prophecies are classified under this threefold approach… the pattern for the future becomes clear. Combining in own volume prophecies concerning the nations, Israel, and the church gives the reader a broad interpretation of the entire prophetic Word… Publication in this form will provide the reader with an understandable statement of what the Bible teaches about the future.” (Pg. xi)
In the 1967 book ‘The Nations in Prophecy’ he asserts, “The relationship of the Gentiles to Israel is always that of a supporting role… in [God’s] dealings with the nations… this is always subordinated to His purpose for Israel and the fulfillment of the spiritual promises to all who would trust in the God of Israel… Prophecy concerning the Gentiles, accordingly, although more expansive in its character and worldwide in its significance, is always presented in Scripture in relation to God’s purposes for Israel. World history which is not related to this is usually omitted in Scripture… From the standpoint of God’s divine election, Israel is the key, and through Israel God was to fulfill His purpose whether redemptive, political, or eschatological.” (Pg. 52)
He states, “The little horn of [Daniel’ 8:9 … concerns Antiochus Epiphanes … Many consider the desecration of the Jewish temple by Antiochus Epiphanes a foreshadowing of a still future desecration that will be fulfilled in the time of the great tribulation (cp. Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-22). The references … seem in some respects to go beyond Antiochus Epiphanes... If so, this is another instance of dual fulfillment of prophecy, the partial fulfillment foreshadowing the ultimate fulfillment.” (Pg. 80-81)
He points out that the ‘Prophesied End of Rome [was] Not Fulfilled… the final state of the empire described in Daniel 2:452-45 has never been fulfilled… the description of the beast as having ten horns and the … emergence of a little horn… has never been fulfilled. It is also evident that there has been no literal fulfillment of the fifth kingdom which was to succeed the fourth… Nothing should be clearer … that there has been no fulfillment of this last stage of the Roman Empire.” (Pg. 84-85) He adds, “Inasmuch as the first portion of the prophecy concerning the Roman Empire was so graphically fulfilled in history… it is most reasonable to conclude that the final stage of the Roman Empire will also have its precise fulfillment.” (Pg. 87)
He also states, “There has never ben a war with Israel which fulfills the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 and 39. If one believes that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is infallible and must be fulfilled, the only logical deduction is that this … is still due a future fulfillment.” (Pg. 105)
He acknowledges, “There are some … problems in the Ezekiel [38-39] passage which merit study. Reference is made to bows and arrows, to shields and chariots, and to swords. These, of course, are antiquated weapons … why should the use armor, spears, bows and arrow? This certainly poses a problem. There have been two or more answers given. One of them is … that Ezekiel is using language with which he was familiar… to anticipate modern weapons… Such an interpretation, too, has problems. We are told … that they used the wooden shafts of the spears and the bow and arrows for kindling wood… We are not in a position today to settle this problem with any finality. A second solution is that the battle is preceded by a disarmament agreement between nations. If this were the case, it would be necessary to resort to primitive weapons…” (Pg. 115-116)
He points out, “No specific mention of the United States or North America or South American can be found in the Bible. None of the rather obscure references to distant lands can be taken specifically as a reference to the United States…” (Pg. 172)
In the second book (1962), ‘Israel in Prophecy,’ he argues, “The … amillennial interpretation of the Abrahamic promises … follow[s] the method of spiritualizing them… Another device… follows the argument that the promises are conditional… Israel was actually promised the land and other blessings, but it is charged that Israel failed to meet the conditions…It is true that, in some cases in the Bible, promises are given in a conditional way… However, it is not true that in Scripture obedience is always the condition of blessing…. Many of God’s blessings fall upon those who are the least worthy of them… It certainly is not true that God’s promises or that prophecy as a whole is conditioned upon human action… The major premise… that obedience is always the conditions of blessing, is a fallacy.” (Pg. 40-41)
He states, “The New Testament … notes that natural Israel---that is, unsaved Israel---are not in the church. There is then no teaching that the nation of Israel as such becomes the church as such. Instead the nation of Israel is promised a future, and though this future is largely fulfilled by spiritual Israel, the existence of these promises as distinct from God’s program for the church maintains the difference between the two terms.” (Pg. 57)
He asserts, “the land, though subject to delay and Israel’s temporary dispossession, is promised unconditionally to the seed of Abraham… it is clear that the promises are geographic and that the boundaries announced in Genesis 15 will have specific application when Israel is finally installed in their land in the millennial period.” (Pg. 71-72)
In the third book, ‘The Church in Prophecy’ (1964), he states, “The concept of apostasy or departure from the faith … can be traced throughout Scripture beginning in the Garden of Eden… The history of the church … is also a sad record of departure from God… The first casualty was a departure from .. the doctrine of the premillennial coming of Christ and the establishment of His millennial kingdom… The next important casualty … was the departure from grace beginning with Augustine… the enlightenment freed men’s minds and wills to believe and do as they pleased… Soon higher criticism began to rear its ugly head, and rationalism demanded that Christian doctrines be subjected to the bar of reason…. The twentieth century … also signaled the rise of new and confusing heresies. Multiplied cults and new forms of religion arose with various degrees of allegiance to Christianity… of which the most … important is neo-orthodoxy. The growth and character of apostasy in the world today … seem to be a clear parallel to what one might have a right to expect in the days immediately preceding the rapture.” (Pg. 51-53)
He says, “Most conservative scholarship agrees that the early church fathers were in error in their conclusion that they were already in the great tribulation… In contrast to the early fathers, however, modern post-tribulationists do not believe in imminency in the same sense as did the early church… while affirming post-tribulationism as such, [they] deny imminency in the sense of an any-moment return, and hold a decidedly different point of view from the early fathers.” (Pg. 114)
This book will appeal to Dispensationalist Evangelicals studying prophecy.
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